02D0691 Project Number: MADOO1C 1 (p Fortification in the XVI Century: The Case of Famagusta An Interactive Qualifying Project Report Submitted to the Faculty of the WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science By Matthew Cardinal and r Joseph Rennert Date: April 26, 2002 Approved: Professor Michael Demetriou, Advisor sc Professor Roberto Pietroforte, Advisor Table of Contents Chapter I- Introduction pages 1-6 Chapter II- Methodology pages 7-18 Chapter III- The Siege Warfare Before Gunpowder pages 19-26 Chapter IV- Defensive Architecture Before Gunpowder pages 27-32 Chapter V- Change: From Pre to Post Gunpowder pages 33- 38 Chapter VI- Defending Artillery pages 39- 47 Chapter VII- Venice, The Commercial Power pages 48-60 Chapter VIII- The Venetian Influences in Famagusta pages 61- 73 Chapter IX- Conclusion pages 74- 77 Appendix A pages 78- 81 Appendix B pages 82-82 Bibliography pages 83-84 Abstract The changes in the Sixteenth century of the fortifications surrounding Famagusta, Cyprus from pre to post gunpowder are studied. Methods of siege warfare and siege defense before and after the advent of artillery are compared. Literary research conducted describes evolutionary changes made in the engineering design of fortifications. The Venetian influence in the design of Famagusta's defensive structures due to the progression of Fourteenth to Sixteenth century military warfare demonstrates the effect engineering technology has on society. CHAPTER I Introduction Engineering design change has been a result of technological advances made by societies, both past and present. During the Renaissance period in the Mediterranean, the city of Venice (Fig. 1-1) was a technological power, and they had an extreme influence on many cities in which they interacted with. One of these cities, and probably the most affected one, was Famagusta, Cyprus (Figures 1-1, 1-2). During the Venetian occupation of the city from 1489 AD to 1571 AD, the city underwent a massive face-lift, sprouting new churches and Venetian palaces within. More importantly though, the Venetians completely revamped and reworked the defensive fortifications surrounding the city. These structural innovations came at the heels of the rapidly changing appearance of siege warfare in the Mediterranean. Fig. 1-1: A map of Europe during the later medieval period, showing the locations of the two cities the report will focus on, Venice and Famagusta. 1 MEDITLIMAfriE.A N SEA RPASI SN:NSti KYREN1A MOUNTAINS F4,164 el1).57,e, A EAY • • LAWS NICOSIA POLLS KYKKOS • MONAITERY KA MAS OLYMPUS • NINSULA' AG M •TROODOS LAMACA. ,LA R. A • NAPA MASSIF Y / ) 1 Air KAT.°w PAPHOS r KOLOSSI J. LEMESSOS EF1SKOCW le )<F: Tg.:1 SAY r CAY Fig. 1-2: The island of Cyprus. The city of Famagusta is located on the southeastern side of the island. The report is aimed at detailing the factors behind the Venetian structural changes in the defensive fortifications surrounding the city of Famagusta. It focuses on the aspects of war itself, and the effects it had on engineering innovations. Certain time periods lent themselves to certain strategic boundaries. During the Medieval era, warfare had its limitations based on the technology of the time. From the knight-based armies to enormous defending castles, warfare of this period had its tactical engineering specifications to meet the technological boundaries. This report includes a description of the basic offensive weaponry and tactics, along with defensive strategy and structures, of medieval warfare. It explains the thought process behind the military engineers of the 1 1 th to the 14th century, and how the style of sieges, the assaulting artillery, and the offensive tactics forced them to design fortifications the way they did. With the continuing importance of warfare in society, new steps were bound to happen. Medieval warfare became a trait of the past as new technological advances were 2 being made on the defensive and offensive fronts. The invention of gunpowder drastically changed the style of siege warfare during the transition from medieval time to the Renaissance. New methods for fighting arose, and with these advances came counter methods of defense. The need for these counter measures and the reasons behind them due to the evolution of siege warfare are integrated into the report in the same manner that the discussion of Medieval warfare is. It tackles the issues of engineering concepts behind the structural changes of fortifications during the Renaissance period. The report discusses how the new siege artillery, propelled by gunpowder, ultimately changed siege warfare. After specifying the elements of the siege, the weapons used, the means of defense, the armies that participated and their reasons, the report shifts into an analysis of the cities of Venice and Famagusta. It goes into detail about the occupation of Famagusta by the Venetians and how they came to rule. The location of the island and the advantages/disadvantages of this, how it affected the importance of the city's location in the Mediterranean Sea, and how these aspects made Famagusta a wealthy and coveted trading post are discussed. The study analyzes how the Venetians affected the society of Famagusta with their changes and how this ultimately lead to the demise of the Venetian presence in Cyprus. By indicating the importance of Famagusta during the Renaissance, the study reasons the Venetians' need for defending the city against any siege, and the need for reworking its current defenses. The project report details the success of the Venetian military engineers used modern fortification structural changes to manipulate the fortifications surrounding the city of Famagusta. It includes descriptions of the 3 engineering and architectural influence that Venice had on the city of Famagusta's defensive fortification. As mentioned above, Venice was an economic and technologic power in the Mediterranean during the Renaissance. The Venetians' advances in sea faring, fortification, and trade marketing made them a military force as well. The project report explains the success of the Venetians and the engineering advances they made. Illustrating and describing the influences that the Venetians had in the physical appearance of Famagusta, most importantly the city walls, is the ultimate objective of the project. The report concludes discussing about the exact engineering and architectural influences that Venice had on the city of Famagusta's defensive fortifications. 4 Chapter II Methodology The first term (A term) was the beginning of an arduous journey to acquire information about the teams project. The groups first meeting with our advisors helped us to understand the nature of what we were studying and our goals for research. They gave us a stepping-stone from which we were entrusted with the responsibility to move forward with: use the Internet as a resource to gather information. This information would prove to be vital for the development of our project, but unfortunately was misunderstood by us and resulted in a loss of important research time. The following table summarizes our work throughout the term (Table 2.1). A-Term Summary Table 2.1 Week 1: Develop a foundation for research. Brainstorming for ideas on how to gather information on the specific subjects, namely the history of the city of Famagusta began. The team planned to exhaust at least one avenue of research by the end of the term, compiling notes at the same time. Week 2: Commence research on the project. The team started with the notion that focusing on our most available research platform and exhausting it would lend to a more comprehensive gathering of information for our project. The Internet was chosen based solely on availability standards. A system was set up of gathering data from the web: Web search — using conventional internet search engines, specific key words were used to locate web sites pertaining to the project. Most of the initial responses were related to the history of the city of Famagusta. Example keywords - "Famagusta," "Cyprus," "Eastern Mediterranean history," "Cyprus Famagusta history" "Venice history," "Venetian Architecture" Example websites hit - wvvw.cypnet.comincyprus.html 5 www.vtourist.cy.net/amohostos/ayia-napa/history www.trncwashdc.org/index.html http://lcweb2.1oc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r? frd/cstdy: @field(DOCID+cy0016) - From some of these sites we began to compile our initial background information about the city of Famagusta: where it was, what it was, and the history behind its story. Week 3: Continuing with the web. The team's findings findings were presented; resulting in being advised to begin a more in depth search not only of the internet, but to begin using the internet and its resources to find books. A list of websites was given to the team, relevant to the country of Cyprus and the city of Famagusta. Instructions were given to create a list of about ten books to retrieve data from and to submit it the following week. The team decided to divide the tasks accordingly. One member took the job of searching for books within our school library and other nearby libraries while the other focused on continuing the data extraction from the web with the new sites. Example books from list - 1) Venice, the Hinge of Europe 1081-1797, by William H McNeil 2) Crisis and Change in the Venetian Economy in the 16th & 17th Centuries, by Brian S Pullan 3) Imperial Age of Venice 1380-1580, by D.S. Chamber Week 4: Accessing literature. The team went to the WPI campus library and focused on getting up to five books or manuscripts with data/information on Venetian trade routes and the ship arsenal. There, each member focused on isolating Venetian trends in economy and trade, as well as the military technology they used in their conquests of the Mediterranean sea ways.